Understandings and Discoveries
by WolfWinks
Summary: Five times Blaine understands Kurt and the one time he understands himself.
1. Bullying

**Warnings** : Mention of bullying **  
Notes:** The whole collection is written for Amber (Cheeky Slytherin Lass) sorry it's late

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i

The first time Blaine understood Kurt was also the first day they met.

Blaine knew that day there was something between them. He didn't recognise it at the time, too focused on the song he was about to sing, but Blaine had noticed there was _something_. That's why he dragged Kurt along to watch him perform. For some reason Blaine wanted Kurt to recognise that ' _something'_ between them. So, Blaine did what Blaine did best. He sung.

Oh, sure, he was meant to be singing and it had been planned before Kurt even thought about visiting the school, but Blaine put in that little bit more of an effort. He wanted Kurt to feel a little bit special because he suspected the teen didn't feel special very often.

Blaine recognised that little, fractured something inside Kurt the moment Blaine started to sing. It was well hidden, much better hidden than Blaine's fractured something had been, but Blaine had seen it. He'd seen it because he had been Kurt only a little while ago. He'd been the one beaten and abused just because he liked boys instead of girls. He'd been that lost person, and he hated that there was someone else out there suffering like he had.

That first day when Blaine met Kurt, Blaine learned about the bullying, and Kurt didn't have to say a word. Kurt did tell him about it later, but he didn't need to. Blaine may not have known any details about the bullying, but Blaine knew it was happening.

It infuriated him.

Blaine knew that whatever bond which had formed between them needed to be carefully cared for. Blaine didn't want Kurt to be left hurting on his own, and Blaine wanted to be the shoulder Kurt needed.

When Kurt did admit the bullying and told him all the gory details, Blaine's resolve hardened. He wouldn't be leaving Kurt to deal with this on his own. Blaine wanted to help Kurt like he wishes someone had helped him.

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(w.c 338)

WolfWinks-xx-


	2. Fashion

**Warnings** : N/A  
 **Notes:** Um, so this drabble collection is not so much a drabble collection anymore as this is well over 1,000 words... Oh well, I hope you still like it.  
The whole collection is written for Amber (Cheeky Slytherin Lass) sorry it's late

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ii

The second time Blaine understood Kurt he also learned something new.

Blaine was over the moon when Kurt started school at Dalton. He felt like he could lose his voice forever and still be smiling. When Blaine discovered Kurt was moving into the dorm room down the hall from Blaine's own room, his joy only increased. He'd see Kurt every day even if they didn't have class together or Warbler practice.

Kurt, though, seemed to be a little sad. He was glad to be away from the neanderthals at McKinley, Blaine could see that, but he looked a little lost. Blaine could understand it to an extent; Kurt must miss his friends and family and he wasn't used to everything yet, but when Blaine noticed Kurt fiddling with his outfit almost constantly. He wondered if there was something else. Something he didn't understand.

After classes and Warbler practise one day, Blaine invited Kurt back to his dorm room for a movie night. Blaine cooked some popcorn while Kurt chose a movie, but Kurt hadn't chosen a movie. He hadn't even moved in the two and a half minutes it took to cook the popcorn.

"Kurt, are you okay?"

Kurt jumped. "Of course. Why do you ask?"

Kurt was fiddling with his outfit again and Blaine wondered if maybe he was making a big deal about nothing. Maybe Kurt just didn't like the uniform; he _was_ the most fashionably attuned person Blaine knew, and uniforms, no matter how prestigious the school was, were never that fashionable.

"You often seem . . . uncomfortable." That wasn't really the word Blaine wanted to use, but it worked. Kurt _was_ uncomfortable almost every day, and Blaine felt it was more than just being at a new school.

"I'm the new kid. Aren't I meant to be uncomfortable for a little while?" Kurt stuck his nose in the air, but his usual bitchy flair wasn't there. Blaine realised in that moment that Kurt's usual flair had been missing since moving here.

"I just . . . You don't seem yourself." Blaine noticed Kurt look at the ground with Blaine's words, and realised he struck a nerve. "Do you not feel like yourself?"

Kurt shrugged and shuffled before sighing and looking up. "I've always had three things that defined me. My sexuality, my voice and my clothes. Obviously, I'm still gay, but I'm not bullied anymore. That's a _good_ thing, I know that, but I feel paranoid walking down the halls; like I'm waiting for something to happen."

"That's to be expected. I was the same way, but you'll get used to that." Blaine still didn't know what had Kurt so upset, but he was starting to gain an idea.

"I know, and I still have my voice, but I've had to change a lot about how I present myself to fit into the Warblers different style."

Blaine felt his face fall a little. He didn't want the Warblers to stifle Kurt's singing. It was beautiful and if the Warblers were going to change that Blaine might have to talk to some of the others.

"That's okay," Kurt reassured, reaching forward with a concerned smile. He must have seen Blaine's face change. "I'm learning a lot of new things and I'm being challenged; that hasn't happened in a long time."

Blaine smiled and reached forward as well to grab Kurt's hands. He wasn't sure why he did it, but the way Kurt's eyes lit up, Blaine knew he'd done the right thing. "If it's not the singing that's making you sad, then what is it? I mean, you moved here to be safe and happy, and I want to help make that happen."

Kurt smiled in a soft, shy way that Blaine was starting to love before he looked down at his clothes again.

"I can't express myself through my clothes here. I . . . I mean, I know they're just clothes, but at McKinley, they were a wall; a shield. They showed everyone that they couldn't bring me down. That I was who I was no matter what _they_ did. It's stupid, but I feel a little unsure without them; like I'm not my fabulous self anymore because I can't show that through my clothes."

Blaine squeezed Kurt's hands. He hadn't realised just how important Kurt's clothes were. He'd known that Kurt loved to accessories and dress in fabulous outfits every day but he hadn't realised what that meant to Kurt. What protection and security he gained from his outfits. How could he not _notice_?

He knew now, and that's what mattered.

"I'm sorry I didn't realise," Blaine couldn't help but say.

Kurt shot him an amused if slightly exasperated look. "Always the gentleman," Kurt muttered. "We _have_ only known each other for a few months, Blaine. You shouldn't feel like you need to know and understand _everything_ about me."

Blaine could feel himself blush, but he just ignored his red cheeks and smiled a little sheepishly. "I know, but this has been distressing you. You know, I kind of felt the same for a while when I first started here. I mean, not exactly the same, but uh . . . don't laugh."

Kurt raised his hands above his head in surrender, a smile on his lips, though a small furrow between his eyes betrayed his confusion.

Blaine smiled and looked down. "I use to wear bow ties every day and I felt a little out of place without them. It's not the same, I know, and I managed to get used to not wearing them as I, well, I had more to worry about, not the mention the ties almost felt the same, but uh, yeah. I guess it's not really like what you're feeling, but . . ." Blaine looked up when he heard a muffled sound and saw Kurt trying to hold in his laughter.

"I'm sorry," Kurt laughed, waving in the air like he was trying to wave away the laughter he couldn't contain. "It's just . . . every day? Like, every day?"

Blaine huffed and pouted. "Yes. I was young and stupid, okay, and I still like them and _will_ wear them just, you know, not every day."

Kurt snorted but he seemed to be calming down. "Thanks, Blaine. That actually helps in an odd way."

Blaine gave up on pouting and let a small laugh loose. "Good, I think, but I do have an idea."

"Oh, and what's that?" Kurt leaned forward with his laugher still clear in his eyes.

"I thought we could spend the next couple of hours before curfew looking into the dress code and seeing what alterations you can do to make the uniform your own without breaking the rules." Blaine smiled when Kurt's eyes widened.

"Oh Gucci, I never even thought about doing that, but are you sure you want to spend your evening like that. I'm sure you'd hate it."

"It's impossible to hate any time spent with you," Blaine said as he turned around to search for his school handbook. "By tomorrow you'll be feeling more like yourself."

Blaine didn't mind spending time reading all those dress code rules or listening to Kurt talk about fashion like it was going out of fashion because it made Kurt happy. Blaine wasn't going to let Kurt be upset if he could help it, even if he dreamed about bow ties and red scarfs dancing together when he finally fell asleep. It was worth it.

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(w.c 1,254)

WolfWinks-xx-


	3. Father

**Warnings** : Mentions of mild homophobia  
 **Notes:** N/A

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iii

When Blaine met Kurt's dad and saw how much he accepted Kurt, it was a little hard. He'd never begrudge Kurt for having a father who accepts him, but he can't help feeling a little jealous. Blaine's had an issue with his father ever since he came out to his family; the man just couldn't seem to understand Blaine wasn't going to change his mind about being gay. He would love to talk to someone about his father's homophobia with someone who _really_ understood and he thought Kurt might be that person. After meeting Mr Hummel, Blaine realised Kurt couldn't be that person; which is great, but a little disappointing as well. Just a little.

Blaine pushes his disappointment to the side, though. He knows all about the hell Kurt's experienced at McKinley so it's great to know that Kurt's had a wonderful home life with a perfect father. Blaine knew it was a little unrealistic to expect that Kurt's home was perfect, but at least homophobia wasn't an issue. Of course, when he found Kurt sitting on the couch in the common room and talking on the phone, Blaine was a little surprised to see him wearing an expression Blaine always wears when he's talking to his father.

"Of course, Dad. I understand . . . No, I won't come up this weekend. I've got a lot of homework anyway. . . Yeah, have fun at the game . . . I love you too."

Blaine watched Kurt lower the phone to his lap with a deep sigh before he knocked on the door frame. Kurt jumped but smiled when he saw Blaine, even if it was a little sad.

"Can I sit?"

"Sure," Kurt said waving him over before looking at his phone again.

Blaine sat next to Kurt on the couch but he didn't speak. He felt like Kurt wanted a little peace and who was he to interrupt that. Kurt was still staring at the phone on his lap with an expression Blaine didn't like to see, though, so in the end, Blaine couldn't keep his silence for long.

"You're not going home for the weekend?" Blaine asked, remembering the words he accidentally overheard.

"Dad's taking Finn to a football game. It's out of town so they'll be staying overnight." Kurt shrugged like it didn't matter to him, but the way he continued to stare at his phone suggested it meant a lot more than Kurt was saying.

"Why didn't you go with your dad and Finn? Surely you'd be back in time for school on Monday?"

Kurt's face fell and Blaine knew he'd said the wrong thing. "I wasn't invited."

"Oh." Blaine hadn't thought that Kurt wanted to go, but he had thought that the invite had been there. Kurt didn't really look like the football type, but he remembered Kurt mentioning something about an appreciation for the sport after playing on the team for a while, and Kurt could have always said no if he didn't want to go.

"It's not a big deal. I'm not a huge fan of the sport, but it would have been nice to be invited, you know." Kurt still wasn't looking up from his phone, and Blaise realised it wasn't about the weekend or the game or being included.

Blaine thought back to all the times his father hadn't bothered to invite him to sports games (baseball being his dad's pick) or when he hadn't even thought to teach Blaine how to change a tire (he _still_ didn't know how to do that) or offering Cooper a beer ( _just this once_ ) when he was a teen and having never offered Blaine one. How his father had agreed to move Dalton to avoid any embarrassment after the incident and still bought Blaine video games when Blaine wasn't interested in the least.

It wasn't about not going with them; it was about not being invited. It was the fact that Kurt's dad didn't even _think_ to invite Kurt because Kurt's gay and therefore he wouldn't be interested.

"Yeah, I know."

Kurt looked up at Blaine's solemn words and Blaine looked back nodding and grabbing Kurt's hand to offer a little comfort. He hadn't realised that despite Kurt's dad being so accepting, he was still a little uncomfortable. He wasn't homophobic like Blaine's dad was, but the guy still grew up in the same generation and the same area. Loving his gay son wasn't going to fix everything, but that was okay. Unlike Blaine's dad, Mr Hummel was trying, and when he messed up, Blaine was there to lend an ear. Maybe one day Kurt could lend one to Blaine.

* * *

(w.c 781)

WolfWinks-xx-


	4. Stereotype

**Warnings** : Very mild swearing  
 **Notes:** The whole collection is written for Amber (Cheeky Slytherin Lass) sorry it's late

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iv

Blaine had always known that Kurt's dad owned a mechanic shop. With how many times Kurt talked about his dad it was a little hard to forget. Blaine never really thought much about what that might mean for Kurt. If he was honest, he hadn't expected it to mean much. Kurt was still the guy who carried a bottle of sanitiser in his bag and a can of hairspray.

When Blaine walked Kurt out to his car one Friday evening, they noticed Wes standing by his car looking more frustrated than he did when the Warblers refused to listen during a meeting. He was holding his phone to his ear and was yelling into it.

"Is that Wes?" Kurt asked.

Blaine nodded and they moved towards Wes to see what the problem was. As they walked forward, Wes seemed to become more worked up and frustrated. By the time they were standing next to him, the teen's whole face was bright red.

"Fine! Who needs you anyway! It's not like I _wanted_ to celebrate my sister's birthday! Bastards!" Wes slabbed his phone shut before tossing it onto the car seat next to him. "Damnit!" He yelled, kicking his front wheel.

"Whoa, Wes, what's wrong?"

Wes jumped and turned around to see Blaine and Kurt starting at him in concern.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Wes said, his professional mask back on his face. "My car's broken down and a mechanic can't come out to fix it until tonight, which by that time I would have missed my sister's birthday party. I promised I'd be there and she's only six. She won't understand if I don't show up." By the time Wes was done talking his professional mask had slipped and the big brother behind the mask was showing.

Blaine winced in sympathy, wishing he could help. "I'm sorry," Blaine said but before he could continue, Kurt chuckled.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Kurt said, walking to his car.

At first, Blaine had to admit he was a little shocked at the seemingly cruel actions, but it just didn't seem like Kurt. He watched with Wes as Kurt opened his trunk and pulled out what looked like a mini mechanic's kit and some grease-stained clothes. He jogged back over and placed his toolkit on the ground.

"If you give me two minutes to go change, I can fix your car."

"You can?" Wes said a little rudely in Blaine's opinion, but Wes was a little frantic and desperate by this point. Blaine didn't _really_ blame him for being a little short tempered. "But you're—"

"What?" Kurt interrupted, annoyed and a little sad. "Gay?"

"No!" Wes said, glancing at Blaine desperately.

Blaine shrugged and stayed out of the disagreement. He knew that Wes wasn't being homophobic. If he was honest with himself, Blaine was surprised that Kurt knew how to fix a car just as much as Wes was, and he knew about Kurt's dad. Kurt didn't know Wes that well, though, and with Kurt's past, Blaine didn't blame Kurt either for being distrustful.

"You just don't like to get dirty and you're so careful about your looks so I just, you know, assumed." Wes was shuffling his feet and though his back was straight, he was obviously feeling guilty for even mentioning anything.

"Oh," Kurt said, surprised. "Well, I can understand that. My dad's a mechanic so I learned all I know from him. He wanted to be sure I could fix my own car when I could drive."

Kurt smiled and dashed inside; coming out a minute later in the scrappiest clothes Blaine had ever seen him in. Wes and Blaine shared a glance but let Kurt work. Within half an hour Wes' car was up and running again and Kurt was standing up and rubbing his hands on a dirty rag like every stereotypical mechanic Blaine had ever seen.

"Kurt, I can't even begin to thank you," Wes said, throwing his arms around Kurt without a care for the grease and stains on his outfit.

"Then don't," Kurt said, laughing. "Just go and enjoy your sister's party before you miss it."

Wes nodded and after another smile, he jumped into his car and disappeared out of the car park at an almost dangerous speed.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked when they couldn't see Wes' car anymore.

Kurt glanced over with a confused frown. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, um with Wes and you know the assumption he made." Blaine scratched the back of his neck, not wanting to admit that he'd made the same assumption despite knowing about Kurt's dad.

With the way Kurt was looking at him, he already knew what Blaise had been thinking. "I'm fine. It's nice when assumptions are made because of who I am not what gender I'm attracted to."

Blaine's eyes widened and he realised what Kurt was saying made a lot of sense. Blaine always hated when people assumed he couldn't fight because he was gay, but not everyone was like that. Some people, like Wes, didn't see it as a sexuality thing but as a personality thing. It was a nice thought, and he wished he'd thought about it like that before.

"Good. You wouldn't want to go home unhappy."

Kurt's eyes widened. "Shit. I'm meant to be home in an hour and I haven't even left yet." Kurt collected his mechanic tools and started moving towards his car before he stopped and glanced at Blaine. "See you on Monday?" Kurt said, moving forward for a hug.

Blaine nodded but he moved away from Kurt's outstretched arms. "No way. You might not mind engine grease, but I do."

The hurt that Blaine briefly saw in Kurt's eyes vanished and his eyes widened again looking down. "I can't believe you saw me like this," he moaned.

"I think you look great," Blaine assured. "I just don't want to match. Now, get going or your dad might kill you." Blaine watched as Kurt nodded with a flush over his cheeks and the shy smile Blaine loved to see.

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(w.c 1,021)

WolfWinks-xx-


End file.
